Lessons learned from 3 LinkedIn creators: Tim Salau, Michaela Alexis, and Manu Goswami

Photo by Alexa Mazzarello on Unsplash

I have a LinkedIn habit, which may be a peculiar interest for a 23-year-old woman working in the nonprofit sector. However, I enjoy writing regularly on LinkedIn and read my fair share of content on the platform. My time on LinkedIn serves as a great way to meet new people, build my personal brand, and sharpen my copywriting skills.

Today, I am going to profile three LinkedIn stars and show you what I have learned from each of them. All three of them regularly write on LinkedIn and interact regularly with their audience.

Here are my lessons learned from Tim Salau, Michaela Alexis, and Manu Goswami:

Tim Salau is an ex-Googler, UX whiz, and LinkedIn video creator extraordinaire. Tim somehow manages to spare enough time to run a Facebook group called Mentors & Mentees. The group provides high-quality advice for young professionals looking to launch — or level up — their careers. On top of everything else, Tim is also a LinkedIn campus editor.

Here are the two most important things that Tim has taught me about building a community:

1. Providing value is everything. No really, it’s actually everything. If you focus on providing value to your community, then the rest of your plan will come much more easily. Your writing should give your best advice; if your articles are useful enough then it’s time to reevaluate your plan.
2. Posting your writing on social media can be hard but it can also reap massive benefits. Tim puts out a ton of content; I see him pop up in my feed every single day, without exception. He makes excellent content on a very consistent basis, and as a result, he has built a community of people who look forward to hearing his advice.

Michaela is a fellow Ottawa resident, albeit one with an international presence. She is a writer and runs a marketing agency called Grade A Digital. In addition, she creates engaging LinkedIn content for her 110k followers

Here are the two biggest lessons about authenticity that I’ve learned from Michaela:

1. It’s okay to write about your anxiety. We all get nervous. If you open up about your anxiety, people will still respect you! Being authentic is a part of living your best life, and that includes talking about your struggles.
2. Lean into your signature catchphrases and traits. Michaela signs off most of her posts with “Love and coffee, Michaela”. It reinforces her personal brand and makes her more approachable. Although we might not all have 110k followers on LinkedIn, we still have things that make us unique!

Manu Goswami is a LinkedIn youth editor, one of Canada’s Top 20 Under 20, and a recipient of Startup Canada’s Young Entrepeneur of the Year award. Manu (aka Swish) and I know each other from the university debate circuit in Canada, but now we only talk about LinkedIn 😎

Here are the two best LinkedIn profile optimization tips that I’ve learned from Swish:

1. The media links in your profile aren’t only for links to your personal website or examples of a big project. You can also add newspaper articles to show media coverage of your work. For communications professionals like me, learning this tip was a real aha moment. Let’s just say that I’ve been quoted in a lot of local newspaper articles.
2. Mention what kind of connections you want to make so that people will feel comfortable approaching you. Manu advised me to add a line to my summary that welcomed other marketers to add me on LinkedIn. My summary now says: “I’m looking to connect with other marketers, content creators, nonprofit professionals, and LinkedIn enthusiasts.” This has served as an icebreaker on my profile and people feel more comfortable introducing themselves to me on LinkedIn.

If you’re still unsure about how to get more involved with LinkedIn, then following these three LinkedIn creators is a good start. Catch up on Tim, Michaela, and Manu’s LinkedIn posts and you’ll be feeling more confident about the platform in no time! It’s worth jumping onto the platform before it becomes as oversaturated as Facebook, so don’t be afraid to dive right in.

Kathryn LeBlanc works in digital marketing and writes about marketing in her spare time. Her writing can be found on LinkedIn, Medium, and Vice. Tweet at @kat_leblanc to say hello ✌️